Amp repair cost — is this right?


I recently sent my Musical Fidelity a308cr power amp off to be recapped. This amp is somewhere around 16-18 years old and one of the power caps failed. I contacted Musical Fidelity and sent it to a repair shop they recommended. Today I received an estimate to replace 18 caps, 8 of which are large power caps, resolder the boards, and re-bias the transistors. Basically a full overhaul. The quote I received, including return shipping (prob around $100) Is over $1,300 which possibly exceeds the value of the amp. That doesn’t include the $115 it cost me to ship it out. Having never had an overhaul done on a power amp like this, I’m wondering if anyone with experience can tell me if this sounds right. I guess I was expecting something more like $600-$800 but I don’t know why since I really don’t have a frame of reference. Perhaps it was the assumption it might be 4 hours labor (say $400) plus max $200 for caps. Is $1,300+ on track? Either way I’m going to be out the shipping cost plus a $160 fee paid for the estimate.
jnehma1
Wow...

I'm surprised that you were even able to "contact" Musical Fidelity, let alone receive a response - period.

DeKay (a previous MF owner).
@dekay There was nothing difficult about that. There’s a new email address since they were bought by ProJect. Someone in Austria forwarded my email to a person in Canada who works for MF North America and I had a response the next morning. He asked where I live so he could recommend a close repair shop and then replied with a recommendation within 30 minutes of me telling him where I live.
I asked a contractor how his quote for a bathroom remodeling came to $33k when the parts by my estimation came to $5k, and labor at $50 per hour for 3 men for 3 weeks came to $18k. Figure in $2k for truck, tools and insurance. $25k. He shrugged and said the remainder was profit.